ordered my first machete

I would love to see Condor products in the large sporting good stores. Dick's, Sportsman's Warehouse, REI, etc.. should all carry at least some of the machetes, knives, and axes (if they can improve their grinds). I'd love to see the Gerber/ Bear Grylls stuff go away, it's all marketing. These stores should be carrying the better tools, not the better marketed junk. That's just my opinion.

I did see a few Condor axes at my local Sportsman's Warehouse, but the grinds were not great, too wedge like. That may be a turn off for some, if that's what they expect from their machetes. I just wish they would open up some shelf space to Condor, they can compete with SOG and Gerber for sales, once folks understand their quality, they'll realize the value and performance is way better. Us knife nuts don't mind ordering something from an internet store, but lots of people just want to walk in a buy something, or they see it and want it. Condor's line would grab attention and sales if they had more dealers, with brick and mortar stores, or the big chain stores. Alas, big business deals happen between guys in suits at office buildings, not on the trail with machete in hand.
 
I think part of it right now is the QC isn't up to big box standards. The early Condor axes (2011) had pretty wedge-like grinds but they've started doing nice thin ones recently.
 
It's a bit odd, in many ways, that Gerber's mediocrity is consistent enough to make it in the big box stores. It's as if the apperance of quality is the standard, not what's in the steel or HT. If the handles, paint job and shape are consistent, well and the bottom line, well good enough.

42, do you ever think we'll see Condor machetes in the big sporting good stores? If Sportsman's Warehouse carried them would they sell? Do they need to be sold in a certain packaging, clamshells or something similar. Do the desires of the general public lead the market, ie. Gerber is all over the place with end cap displays, bright orange colors to catch your eye, and Bear Grylls' face boldly plastered on the packaging.
I've only seen Ontario machetes sold in one hardware store, never in a knife shop. I guess they've made their money from the years of military sales, not from store sales, IDK.
 
Looking this one over one thing that I think of when I see clamshell packs and lots of marketing is that the product must not be authentic. Condor and the other brands of machetes made in Central and South America have an true authenticity because of the culture and variations that come with them. Selling at a box store is another indication to me of low quality. Years ago I worked at a small family owned hardware just south of Louisville. The store was a place known for having the real thing but it might take them some time to find it. The clerk might even need to take a flashlight to see in the dark corners...literally. Tradesmen and homeowners came there knowing that there were honest real tools and products to meet their needs. Last summer I was in Asuncion Paraguay and I had time one afternoon so I stopped in at a ferrereteria or hardware store. I told the clerk I wanted to look at machetes and he went back and came out in a minute with six or seven different ones. I left there with a Tramontina 18" and it cost me about $5. Not a lot less than you get them or something like it here but it is an honest working tool bought at a real hardware store. I looked at Gerber machetes at the goose mountain store here in MN and there's no way I would buy it, my impression was that I could break it or get ripped up by the serrations on the spine. It looks like it was designed by a committee of marketing experts and not by real people who work with tools. The hardware store in Paraguay took me back some years to hardware stores like I wish we had now instead of the big 'made in the east' cheapo stores we have everywhere now. There, I said my piece, keep Condor with some marks or issues, it shows that real tradesmen made them and not by a Six Sigma , ISO 9001 driven marketing firm.
 
ive seen Cold Steel machetes at Scheels sporting goods. (and yes, i bought one. it was a total POS)
 
I agree that clamshell packaging makes things look cheap, reminds us of Wal-Mart products. Yet, with Gerber's machetes, the prices are too high for what you get.
When I asked in a big box store would require Condor machetes to be in clam shell packs, I'm asking from a safety perspective. Some sort of packaging would be necessary to keep people from getting cut. Not that they should take away from it's authenticity. Or, should they be behind a counter, like knives?
The Ontario machetes in hardware stores are in a thick cardboard package, and they don't come sharp. The Condor machete I have came very sharp, but I ordered that from an online store. If it were loose on a shelf, some dumbass would slice themselves open, sue the store, etc..
 
Yup. Big box stores would demand clamshell packaging because it's easy to stock and display without employees having to know much about it. And consistency is really just so they're always getting the same product. Quality is often not the biggest factor compared to consistency. I think they COULD sell big-box some day in the distant future but that's a long way off and not what their present market sector is. :)

@woody d: CS machetes are actually pretty ok when their "edge" gets cleaned up. But as they come from the factory they're not very usable. :D
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
@woody d: CS machetes are actually pretty ok when their "edge" gets cleaned up. But as they come from the factory they're not very usable. :D
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i must have had a bad one then....took it home, sharpened it up, and it was broke within a month doing some routine chopping a machete sould be able to. maybe i jumped the gun basing my opinion on one blade, but i was very dissapointed.
 
That's really strange, because CS/Lasher Tools runs their machetes on the softer side! My guess is that you must have gotten one that had an inclusion in the steel.
 
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